noun
-
informal foolish talk; nonsense
-
another name for bologna sausage
Etymology
Origin of baloney
1915–20, 1925–30 baloney for def. 2; alteration of bologna, with substitution of -ey 2 for final schwa
Explanation
Baloney is nonsense. When someone says something completely ridiculous, call it a bunch of baloney. If your friend tells you a unicorn on roller skates ate the last cookie, tell her she’s full of baloney! The word baloney comes from the sandwich meat called bologna, which is typically made of leftover scraps of meat. Around 1920, baloney came to mean "nonsense," and it was also used to describe an unskilled boxer. Use it to describe utter nonsense, not necessarily evil lies, but just words that mean nothing. A politician who spouts clichés but really says nothing is full of baloney, and so is a pretentious artist or a pompous showoff.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“And he also understands that if you start fooling your shareholders, you will soon believe your own baloney and be fooling yourself as well,” he wrote.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 30, 2025
Antoni, who has a PhD in economics, has previously criticised the BLS, questioning its methodology and calling its statistics "phoney baloney".
From BBC • Aug. 11, 2025
Now the principal proponent of that theory may also testify that it was baloney.
From Salon • Oct. 21, 2023
If anyone would have put a stop to such baloney, it would surely be Samantha Jones.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 25, 2023
I was so hungry that I foigot all about scraping the mustard off the baloney sandwich and even like that it was the best sandwich I’d ever had in my life.
From "Bud, Not Buddy" by Christopher Paul Curtis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
